The Odyssey

So here at the John Felice Rome Center we have this awesome ability to sign up for classes that are called “on-site”. This means that your lectures can be given at the Colosseum or the Vatican or the Trevi Fountain or anywhere else in Rome. This is a great way to learn about the history and culture of this amazing city and actually be present at the place you’re learning about. Pretty cool, huh? Well, Caitlin, Spencer and I have an on-site class together (Writing Fiction in Rome) on Tuesday mornings at 9:30, so this past Tuesday was our first attempt at making this work. This is how it went:

8:17am we leave campus to catch the 913 bus (remember our class is at 9:30, so this gives us about an hour and 15 minutes to get to the Teatro di Marcello (where our class was taking place), plenty of time in a normal city especially since it’s only about a 20 minute drive in a car). We are in sight of the 913 bus stop (fermata d’autobus) and the bus flies past us so we begin to run after it; it’s at a red light so we were really confident that we were going to make it, ya…we didn’t. So knowing the Italian bus system, we figured another one could be coming in a few minutes, or in a few hours. About 25-30 minutes later the bus came, woo! So we jumped on and took it all the way to Piazza Cavour where our professor had told us to take the 30 bus to the Teatro di Marcello. So after waiting about 10 minutes, by which time we only had about 10 min. to get to class we decided, by using my fabulous map of Rome (on which we could not for some reason find Piazza Cavour), that we were close enough to walk to the Teatro. So walk we did. And walk. And walk. And then the 30 bus flew past us. And we continued to walk until we came across a police woman who we asked to point us in the direction of Teatro di Marcello. All I got out of that conversation was “molto camminare”…and I knew exactly what that meant… “long walk”. So, while walking back to the 30 bus stop, it being clear now that we weren’t going to make it to class in time, we spotted a 30 bus coming our way. We all stopped and tried to decide where it was heading…and then we started running. We sprinted after that bus for a good 3 blocks, right when we got to it, just in time, my shoe flew off and in a desperate panic I grabbed it, threw it onto the bus and jumped in after it. An old man sitting next to the door was laughing hysterically at the three of us, as if this was the funniest thing he’d ever seen.

When we arrived at the caffé 15 minutes late after finding 4 more students from our class we realized that our teacher had already left with the rest of our class. So we set off for the Teatro hoping to catch up with all of them there. It took us about 10 minutes and many stops for directions later to figure out where the entrance to the Teatro was. It was, as mom would say it (excuse my Italian), a clusterf*ck to the extreme. Finally getting into the Teatro we realize that our teacher is not there anymore. So we go back to the caffé, call the school, who then calls our teacher, who then calls us and we hear that she is instead across the street on the steps to the Capitoline Hill...

After class we get lost looking for the train back to campus, end up at the Vaticano and finally take the 990 home…

Just in time for lunch :)